Thread: WIP homemade bandsaw

Many thanks Christos and Milo.

Gaza, the rocking horse was based on one from an old Woodsmith magazine that I adapted to suit (adding a saddle, changing some dimensions and the fitting of the legs to suit my materials etc...). It can be bought online for around 5 or 6 bucks from the Shopnotes website.

I love anything that Mathias does he is a true genius, great job done there, whats next ?

lol

Hi Michael nice job on the bandsaw and iam shore you will find it invaluable
I myself have also purchased the bandsaw plans from Matthias Wandel @woodgears
and have found them to be very well detailed. My only concern was the trunnions and so that is were i started .thou with such great plans I shoud not have been concerned at all. As some one that has finished the bandsaw is there any thing you have come across that I should look out for??

I love the rocker it looks great and that bandsaw must be wooking a treat then.
Did you make the dollshouse in the background???

Just wondering. Now that you've been using the bandsaw for a while, how is it going? Are you having any problems cutting straight, blade tracking, or keeping the blade vertical? Are there any improvements that you'd do, regarding stiffness motor size?

I'm thinking about converting my $100, 14" into something like yours...

I have a friend who wants to build this bandsaw and I was uncertain that the idea was sound.

So I am also interested in how you have found it after a year? Does wood movement affect it's accuracy at different times of year? and how have the wood blade guides lasted?

I think it's the best thing since sliced bread, really (and yes, I have sliced bread on it). I am still on the original blade guides after a year and a half (they're made out of river redgum) and have found tracking is no issue. The bike tyres I used on the rims have perished about 4 months ago and I should get around to replacing them sometime, but haven't got around to it yet and it has made no difference to performance so far. Blade straightness and verticality are all fine. The biggest weakness are the trunions for the table - when I put big, heavy logs on them, they can shift a bit , so if I were to make it again I would either use a larger thread bolt and knob or since I almost never use the tilting function, just put in a straight table to increase the depth of cut. I have not noticed any variation between seasons with accuracy or function due to wood movement. About the only precaution I take towards anything like that is to detension the blade at the end of the day. I have been surprised by how well the wooden 'springs' have lasted and by the amount of tension I can put on the blade - around 5mm deflection on the 19mm blade so it sings like an A-string.

There are a few modifications I intend to do: I am going to put in a mitre slot and a scale for the fence so it is easier for me to get repeatable widths of cut. I am also going to put in a dust collection slot on the side, although the drawer underneath is working effectively for me.

Stiffness and power are very good for what it is - I still get straight cuts through 26-28cm dry redgum and blackwood logs without too much difficulty. I was using it a couple of weekends ago with a rip jig to halve some wet silver birch, wet and dry eucalypt logs and make round turning blanks from sycamore, redgum and miscellaneous eucalypt (up to 25cm diameter) without any problems, all with the 19mm blade. This weekend with the 8mm blade I was cutting pen blanks and free-cutting shelf brackets, so it does well for the smaller stuff as well. I used a 1hp 1470rpm motor in it, with the 16" drive wheel rotating at 750rpm, which gives me a lower blade-feet/minute than a lot of commercial bandsaws, but more torque as a result. This was a decision I made, and is not precisely the figures (although sits well within the range) given in the plans.

The plans are excellent. If I were to do it again, I would use hardwood and give myself a longer frame for more depth of cut and width of cut (not that I have any problems with the laminated pine - it is rock solid and I have noticed no flex under tension).

Thanks for the review

Excellent. Thanks.

Hi Mike, I know it's a while since you've built yours but I've nearly completed mine. Agreed it is the best thing since sliced bread. I'll put together a post once the kids go back to school and show what I've done.
Best part about making your own machines is the sense of satisfaction with every single cut. I'm a carpenter with 4 kids, the ball chain has just returned to work after pretty much 10 years at home with the kids(a decision we both made in the kids best interests) so finances are tight ALL the time. I laminate scraps attained from my day job, build cool machines, then use the cool machines to build better cooler machines. Everything I've made up until now is with carpentry tools, hand held powered and non powered and an old semi functional triton work centre. My old jigsaw is mounted upside down in a box, as is my router, both with table functionality. The router was the coolest thing in the garage until the bandsaw build!!!

Gav

Dont know if you have checked out the wood gears site lately but he now has 18" and a 20" plans